Percy Jackson's Greek Gods (Percy Jackson and the Olympians companion #5.5) - Rick Riordan Page 0,42

a boy.) “If he’s better in the morning, I’ll send him on his way.”

In the morning, the cuckoo made no attempt to fly away. He sat contentedly on Hera’s finger, eating pieces of seed and nut out of her hand. Hera had never had a pet before, and it made her smile.

“You’re a good friend, aren’t you?” she murmured to the bird.

“Coo,” said the cuckoo.

Hera’s heart warmed as she looked into his trusting orange eyes. “Should I keep you?”

“Coo.” The cuckoo rubbed his beak on her finger in an unmistakably affectionate way.

Hera laughed in delight. “All right, then. Yes. I love you, too.”

Instantly the cuckoo hopped to the floor. It began to grow. At first Hera was afraid she’d fed him too much nectar and the bird was going to explode, which would have been both distressing and messy. Instead, the bird took on the form of a god. Suddenly Zeus was standing before her in his glowing white robes, his golden crown gleaming in his black hair, which was still mussed up in a cuckoo-style hairdo.

“Sweet words, my lady,” Zeus said. “I love you, too. Now, I believe you and I had a deal.”

Hera was so stunned, she couldn’t respond. Anger overwhelmed her. But she also felt a creeping admiration for what an incredible no-good scoundrel Zeus was. She wasn’t sure whether she should hit him or laugh at him or just kiss him. He was awfully cute.

“On one condition,” she said tightly.

“Name it.”

“If I marry you,” she said, “you will be a good, faithful husband. No more playing around. No more affairs or chasing after pretty mortals. I will not be made a laughingstock.”

Zeus counted on his fingers. “That seems like more than one condition. But never mind! I accept!”

Hera should have made him promise on the River Styx, which is the most serious oath the gods can make. She didn’t, though. She agreed to marry him.

After that, the cuckoo became one of her sacred animals. You’ll usually see pictures of Hera holding a staff topped with either a cuckoo or a lotus flower, which was her sacred plant. In case you’re curious, her other sacred animal was the cow, because it was such a motherly animal. Personally, if somebody told me, “Wow, babe, you remind me of a heifer,” I would not take it as a compliment; but it didn’t seem to bother Hera. Whatever clunks your cowbell, I suppose.

Zeus and Hera announced the happy news, and the gods began preparing for the biggest wedding in the history of weddings.

You have to pity Hermes the messenger god, who had to deliver the wedding invitations. Every god, Titan, mortal, nymph, satyr, and animal in the world was invited to join the party. I hope the snails got their invites early. It must’ve taken them forever to get there.

Different people will tell you different stories about where the wedding was held. We’ll go with the island of Crete, because it makes sense. That was where Zeus hid on Mount Ida when he was a baby, so the place had good karma.

I’m still trying to figure out the logistics, though….So, you invite a wild rabbit living in Italy to a party on the island of Crete. What’s it supposed to do, swim there? Its little tux would get wet.

Anyway, everybody who was invited showed up, except for one really stupid nymph named Chelone. She lived in Arcadia on the Greek mainland, in this hut by a river, and she just threw her invitation away.

“Meh,” she said. “Stupid wedding. I’d rather stay home.”

When Hermes discovered she was a no-show, he got mad. (I guess it was also his job to check the guest list.) He flew back to Chelone’s place and found her bathing in the river.

“What’s the deal?” he demanded. “You’re not even dressed. The wedding is on!”

“Uh…” Chelone said. “I, um…I’m a little slow. I’ll be there!”

“Really? That’s the story you’re going with?”

“Okay, no,” she admitted. “I just wanted to stay home.”

Hermes got a dark look in his eyes. “Fine.”

He marched over to Chelone’s hut and picked up the entire building, Superman-style. “You want to stay home? Stay home forever.”

He threw the house right on top of her, but instead of dying, Chelone changed form. The house shrank over her back, melting into a shell, and Chelone became the world’s first tortoise, an animal that’s always slow and carries its house on its back. That’s why chelone means tortoise in Greek. Hey, you never know. You might need that